New Downtown Bus Terminal Is One Year Away

FORT LAUDERDALE -- Lee Wiggins, a hospital security guard who takes the bus to work, wishes he could stay dry on rainy days while waiting at the downtown bus terminal.

Monique Johnson wishes her wait for a bus at the busy terminal was shorter.

``Sometimes, I wait for an hour,`` the 19-year-old fast-food clerk said.

About this time next year, Wiggins, Johnson and thousands of other bus riders will be accommodated, Broward County transportation officials say, because a long-promised downtown bus terminal should be ready for passengers.

``The average rider will see more service, better service and a pleasant environment,`` said Victor Iskowitz, project manager for the new terminal. ``The environment itself will be a parklike atmosphere, with natural lighting, landscaping and trees.``

The new terminal will be on a 3-acre site bounded by Broward Boulevard, Northwest First Avenue, Northwest Second Street and the Florida East Coast Railway. It will be across the street from the current terminal and one block west of Andrews Avenue.

``Anything they do to improve the service would be welcome,`` said Wiggins, a 34-year-old Dania resident who changes buses at the downtown terminal to get to work at Humana Hospital Bennett in Plantation.

The new terminal has been planned for a decade. In that time, the cost has more than tripled, from an initial estimate of $3 million to $9.1 million. The size of the terminal has shrunk. Instead of handling 40 buses, it now will have room for 24.

It also has displaced nine business, most of which have reopened elsewhere. All but three buildings, McCann Hardware, the Downtowner Lounge and Woller & Gastel Pork Store, have been demolished. The last three must close by April 1; they will then be demolished so construction of the terminal can begin by June 1, Iskowitz said.

Construction is expected to take six to eight months, he said.

``Here again, this is the price of progress,`` said Clif Speck, the owner of McCann Hardware. ``Is it worth the price? Only time will tell. The bus terminal is obviously important for downtown.``

McCann`s, which was opened in April 1946 by former Mayor Herbert L. McCannis, is one of the oldest businesses in Fort Lauderdale. Speck, 68, is retiring.

The new terminal is worth the cost and upheaval, transportation planners said.

The downtown terminal is the busiest in Broward County, with nearly 6,900 passengers passing through daily; that amounts to 2.5 million passengers a year. By 1990, projections show, the number of riders will increase to 10,000 a day, 3.7 million a year.

Twelve buses at a time can fit in the existing terminal, which is leased from the city of Fort Lauderdale.

When more than 12 arrive, the buses park on side streets, causing passengers to scramble in search of their buses. Because of the congestion, buses leave late more often than not, transportation planners and riders said.

Shelter is provided by small, blue-glassed enclosures that passengers say do little to protect them from wind and rain.

The new terminal will accommodate twice as many buses. Passengers will wait under overhangs next to open-air bus lanes the length of the building. The overhangs will shelter passengers from the rain and wind, Iskowitz said, but will still let the sun shine in.

Electric signs and monitors similar to those at airports will inform passengers of their bus` schedule, where it can be boarded and whether the bus is on time, said Ed Coven, a transportation planner with Broward County.

Passengers will go through an enclosed building to get to the boarding area and will have access to restrooms, pay telephones, drinking fountains and an information desk.

Eventually, waits for a bus will be reduced to no more than five or 10 minutes, Coven said.